2 Hit Rock Bottom
by huxley
Summary: Ecklie enjoys paltering with the team. Cath rules literally. Gris and Sara get to investigate two DBs found in a landslide near Jackpot GSR and team rebonding. Pls R&R, first fanfic and I'm not a native speaker, go ahead teach me! Complete.
1. Lot's Brothers

**2 HIT ROCK BOTTOM**

**Disclaimer:** I wish I would, but I don't own them. Although season one to four on DVD is mine and MINE only.

**Author's note:** This piece hasn't been betaed yet. So I apologize for wrong wording, typos or grammar. Please RR, it's my first fan fic and I'm not a native speaker. Go ahead, teach me.

**Summary:** Ecklie enjoys paltering with the team. Now Cath rules, literally. Grissom and Sara get to investigate two dead bodies found in a landslide near Jackpot; concentrating on GSR and team re-bonding. COMPLETE

**Rating:** PG-13

**Spoilers:** Post Unbearable. Definitely Jackpot, but probably a bit of all seasons.

**Default Chapter – Lot's Brothers**

Built in a narrow picturesque canyon the old mining town of Jackpot could have had all premises of a thriving tourist centre. But somehow they missed that train. Investors failed to discover the beauty of the wilderness and the charm of its surrounding forests and mountains. Just a few tourists on a drive-thu stopping by for food and gas, never for lodging, some hikers and free climb geeks in Summer, that's about it.

Sheriff Alan Brooks liked it though. He did not appreciate much the disturbance and interference of what he called – the outside world – caused by people who did not belong here. He did not like strangers of any kind. Brooks had already enough issues with the locals, kids driving drunk or on drugs, domestic violence, poaching all year round. And dealing with an every year's cutback on budget. He definitely had no need of city slickers loitering.

Brooks normally worked on his own, just supported by two part-time deputies, Eric who worked for his dad in the General Store off duty and Barry, who also functioned as local taxi driver. Both not really smart, but hell, good enough to do their job and he wouldn't have too much of a choice anyway, would he. The younger smart-asses were leaving town to study in Vegas or even going farther headed to L.A. or San Francisco. Attracted by the sun fun shown on TV. They would return later, older, frustrated and disillusioned, ill-guided by false promises, blaming bad fate and "the others", never themselves though. The "I told you so"s from the elderly would drive them mad, no job perspective and an unwillingly pregnant girlfriend, all of the above a perfect mix for all kind of aggressive outburst in a small-town like this.

It had been quiet for a while though, as far as quiet can go in a town of approximately thousand inhabitants and an unemployment rate far above county average. A break and enter in the gas station at last. He smirked. Marty Cooperman would have never allowed him to investigate the matter, anyhow. Case closed. They have been enemies forever. Well, probably not forever but definitely the greater part of their adult life.

Lost in his thoughts Brooks watched the pouring rain. It had been like this for days now. Down south they are desperately waiting for the rain to come and up hear we have so much to spare, he mused. It seemed that all colours had drained out of the picture, a swirling grey in grey expression. Although in the middle of the day traffic were slow. A few trucks driving by with head lights on. One car stopping at the Diner, a guy jumping out to escape the wet encounter. "I think I should Gloria pay a visit", Brooks said to himself, "it's right about time for pie and coffee." He picked up his hat and a dark blue rain jacket with printed "Nevada County Police" on the back.

Brooks was just leaving his office when he heard a dark and threatening rumbling coming from earth itself. The ground began to vibrate. A weird feeling of irritation mixed with simple primal fear overcame the Sheriff. I better run for cover even if I loose my dignity as representative of law enforcement, crossed his mind. But he stood paralized. Hell, I am not going to freak out here. Shivers ran down his back and all his senses were alert, reduced to pure instinct. An earthquake up here? He shook his head, not possible, never happened before. Then it was gone. His pulse still high and visibly shaken he entered the diner. A quick look around showed everything seemed to be normal, some semi-drunk guys shouting at each other, making a bet over a girl they wanted to conquer. Football on TV and some Bruce Springsteen song blaring from the music box in the background. Was it just me or did anyone else recognize this event? Brooks shook his head.

Gloria gave him a concerned look. "Hi Alan, what's up? Encounter with a ghost or a dumped girlfriend from the past? Well, there was just a heck of a heavy load truck passing by, glasses and dishes started dancing on the shelves, did you see it?"

"Nope, not a truck, piece of nature!" he answered.

"Aw, come on, don't go bullshitting on me!" Gloria prompted. "So, what's you want? I can get you coffee and fresh apple pie." The sheriff nodded.

"Yeah, Glory, make it a take-out. I have got to follow a hunch, you know. Something happened around, have to make sure that everything is alright." Without further explanation Brooks picked up his order and left.

His primary white police SUV were parked in front of his office. It had gotten pretty dirty in the last days and he hadn't got it cleaned since this bad weather was not due to change in the next time. Saves time and money, Brooks smirked. Good for the budget, bad for the car though. He entered the unlocked Explorer, nobody would dare to steal the sheriff's vehicle anyway, and drove northbound out of town. He merely followed his instincts when he followed a logging road uphill. The area had already been cleared, mutilated, ripped apart. Although he did not like what 'tree harvesting' did to their environment he had to admit that they were the pretty much the only few job opportunities left in this area.

Brooks shifted into four-wheel drive when the road started to get rougher. The never-ending rain had totally washed out the gravel road, leaving lots of pot holes. They were filled with water, which made it nearly impossible to estimate their depth. But he was used to driving in difficult road conditions and had no problems to deal with it. They did not have much of road maintenance anyway, also an unwelcome effect of several government cut backs.

With a sudden urge Brooks hit the breaks hard and came to a sliding stop, killing the engine. The road was gone, and so was the hill. It seemed that the complete surrounding had been rearranged by some frantic terra formers. He grabbed his binoculars and looked up to what was left from above. Rain and erosion did their worst to the uncovered soil. A raging stream of mud and debris must have headed downwards the north slope, dragging, drowning and quenching every living being crossing its deadly path.

Nevada State Geological Survey would have to be informed. I so love my paperwork, he sighed. Definitely something we do not need up here, another wise guy science nerd. He smirked when he recalled his experience with the meticulous crime lab specialist who worked with him on the severed head case. The case involved two of his family members but had been handled low profile thanks to the courtesy and discretion of that guy. His older brother finally learned to cope with his personal issues and now did his best to support his son, visiting him as often as possible in jail. He sighed, 'We all do the best we can but sometime it is just not enough.'

Carefully he turned the SUV and headed downhill. The rain was still pouring and the wipers had a hard job to fight back the wet flood forced against the windshield by an upcoming strong westerly wind. Brooks hit a small country road from which he thought it might lead him to the end of the landslide. He couldn't quite believe what he saw, wiped his eyes and used the binoculars as if to prove his senses wrong.

But the scene did not change. Between rock and debris there were two human beings standing, no not standing, they seemed somehow stuck in the soil like tin soldiers. Obviously grabbed by the rage of the muddy avalanche, probably hopefully instantly killed by suffocation. Then the bodies must have moved upwards by accident, finally released by the powers of this downhill stream. Alan Brooks had seen a lot, but human beings heavily mutilated by force of nature, was a first. He took a deep breath. They look like pillars in salt, Brooks frowned. Although being an atheist, this bible reference crossed his mind. I'm going to love this, he mumbled to himself when moving closer. Brooks identified two males but that was it. Mud and severe broken bones seemed to make it impossible to find any familiarities with people he knew. Then he stood thunderstruck again. From what he could see this head wound had not been caused by natural effect. This was definitely caused by human involvement. For certain that particular guy had been killed by gun shot. Ok, cancel the reference to Lot, we might have to look out for Kain and Abel. That would be a heck of a report, Brooks shook his head and left the scene to head back to the office and make some phone calls.


	2. Reflections

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

-   
Chapter One – Reflections 

The office was dark and didn't seem occupied. But at a second glance in the green glow from the terrarium where Mr Spider lived, the interested observer would recognize a lonely silhouette of a man, agonizing, his head buried in his hands.

_Not yet another migraine!_ Grissom had switched off the lights not being able to read another chapter of his entomology book. Sitting in the dark he swallowed some Advils dry. Eyes closed waiting for the pain to retreat he mused _Everything is falling apart. When did this start? _Grissom sighs. A couple of months before he had been supervisor of the graveyard, five good people working with him. Then scumbag Ecklie split up the team and Catherine took her chance and two of the best CSIs with her, leaving him alone with Sara, a rookie and Sophia. Thinking of Sophia was a waste of time anyway. They both had dinner to discuss about Ecklie and her demotion. He tried to convince her to stay because of the challenge of the job. But her priority had been on becoming a supervisor. She has taken the consequences and decided to move on. _Fine! I have to speak to Ecklie. I need a replacement for Sophia. _

Grissom though never thrusted himself into becoming a supervisor. It just happened after Holly's death and Brass' demotion. He did not reject the promotion but he did not fall for it either. Gris was never officially announced. It was always by hearsay. But he had to admit that he liked some of the perks that came with the job. Besides the fringe benefit he did appreciate having his own parking stall. _I can be so shallow,_ he thought. _No wait, I have ordered some very nice equipment for the lab, which probably makes us number one lab in North America. Well, except that now all money is going into the new facility in New York. But still number two. Moreover is not all about the ranking, it's about the people._

Also he took his chance to bring Sara Sidle in and convinced her to stay after the internal investigation about Warrick. Well, he didn't really _have_ to convince her, did he?

_Once,_ he thought, _he had the best team and now is left with… what?_

Greg, spike hair Greggo, he is clever and good with people. _Somehow like I was myself when I was young,_ Grissom mused, _well, without the weirdness and the relationship issue of course. _Like with Nick and Warrick he felt like a father for this young CSI since they were the only family he ever had.

Grissom rubs his face. And Sara, last but not least. Always Sara. He never dared to ask and to look behind what was the matter with her and he never really wanted to be involved with her, in her issues, not safe and far too complicated. Gris had always felt deep inside that bad things must have happened in her past, although he never suspected parental abuse and a mother killing the father. When Sara was finally ready to tell him the whole story he thought himself to be well prepared to listen.

Both felt that is almost had been to late to re-establish at least some kind of friendship level between them. But still it was not too late, they managed somehow.

He remembered her dark brown eyes. Sara, in pain, forcing herself not to cry, not to embarrass herself by showing weakness in front of anybody, especially not in front of him. This time she had lost the fight because of him. Because now at least she had his full attention.

His heart went out to her. He felt for her, completely, obviously, desperately. Nothing more ever happened between them but he holding her hands, tight and strong and supportive. He remembered a lonely tear dropping hot on his hand then searching its way down bound by gravity. For him everything happened. He completely lost his heart in this very moment.

Grissom had lost part of it already when he met Sara the first time but never allowed it to happen that she could have him. What was it she said? That she was attracted to men who are emotionally unavailable. Grissom scoffs. Unavailable? Crap, incapable and cowardly. Oh god, I rejected her more than once. Have dinner? Yes indeed, why not, occasionally after work, always save, accompanied by co-workers and definitely without ulterior motives. Sleep with her? It was quite a bit of a shock back then when she asked. He was so tempted to say yes, right here, right now. Grissom swallowed hard by the remembrance. But he was paralysed by the consequences. Were would it lead to? Probably into a relationship? That would be something he did not allow himself into.

Why do you think she moved to Vegas? The words reiteratively tortured his mind. He smirked. Sara had a crush on him, he knew it all the time. But can one have a crush over a decade? Could it still be more? He remembered the nights they had worked together side by side in silence. He was always feeling comfortable having her around but feeling very awkward thinking of her as a woman in love with him.

Just for Sara he made up the rule that relationship between superior and co-worker is not only inappropriate but strictly forbidden due to job regulations. He was very persuasive and persistent and Sara believed this crap. _Yeah, good work, Gil. That's a way of save sex even. Who is trying to rationalize all the time?_ Nobody in the lab would probably give a damn about office liaisons. Well, some rumours might have spread around, but rumours are going around even when there is nothing behind and nobody would care as long as it wouldn't affect work. Even Grissom did break this rule here and then, and had quite good times with some of his female colleagues, but never relationship of course.

_I have to talk to Catherine about that. If we are still friends._ Their relationship changed a lot after Cath got promoted to swing shift supervisor. But Grissom had to admit that she has always been the better leader. _She knows what has to be done, is good at dealing with people either way of chain of command._ And it has been definitely somehow his fault anyway. He did not only recommend her, he supported Cath in persuading and developing her career and he felt proud of what she had achieved. _Perhaps I should just drive by as I used to…_ but no, not possible, due to their different schedule she might be sleeping.

He switched on his computer to write a short note to Catherine: 'Cath, we have to talk, please. Grissom.' And more formally to Ecklie: 'Conrad, I'd like to schedule a meeting with you about options for subsequent operation of Sophia. Meet you tomorrow afternoon. Grissom.' Then he left office, clocked out and headed home.


	3. Everything in Flux

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

**Chapter Two – Everything in Flux**

Two hours before start of his shift Grissom returned to the lab to make sure he can get hold of Ecklie and Catherine. When he walked through the hall he heard Ecklie calling for him.

"Gil, my office, now!"

Grissom raised an eyebrow and glanced back to Ecklie but not moving in his direction. Slightly uncomfortable Ecklie added: "Please?" He gestured Gil to follow him.

Conrad watched Grissom as he moved in as if in trance, taking a seat without being asked to do so. _Gil looks exhausted,_ he thought. _Shoulders hanging like he's carrying the weight of the world, shadows under the eyes like he did not sleep for decades._

Ecklie nearly felt sorry for that man. But no, he was too often pissed off by Grissom's disrespectfulness. The team's busted, Grissom failed in managing the team and, as a bonus to Ecklie's amusement, his personal life. _Definitely, he and this insolent Sara Sidle deserve each other. Everybody in the lab knows that they had a thing which didn't really work out. Now, finally I have his ass._ He couldn't resist putting a sly grin on his face.

Well, the lab needs Grissom though. Conrad had to admit that Grissom was the best material they could get, a very acknowledged scientist and entomologist, but with people and politics, heck he is such a loser. Splitting up the team was some fun_. I need to keep him, but I do not necessarily have to let him lead a shift, have I?_ Grissom would not fight his decision. He never did. Although recently he almost put his job on the line when asked to fire Sara, Ecklie remembered. _What a weird man he is. Even Catherine barely knows what Grissom's thinking and they have been friends for years now._

Grissom carefully watched Ecklie. This guy was far too self complacent and overconfident, he noticed. More precisely: Ecklie looked like a fat cat which has already cornered the prey. Ugh, that's very likely a worst case scenario. With no expression on his face he mentally prepared for things to come. Would Ecklie finally sack him or Sara or even both?

Ecklie spoke up: "We are just waiting for Catherine to join our meeting."

Grissom flinched and opened his mouth as if to say something. But he didn't. Conrad caught him by surprise. _Catherine? What the heck does Cath has to do with this?_

Cath was nervous. When Ecklie informed her about his decision regarding changing the lab organisation all over again, he made absolutely clear that she would be very much in the middle of it. She had been flattered and scared at the same time. She has hoped to get a chance to talk to Grissom before Ecklie did, but couldn't manage to make it on time. Cath barely slept last night due to the upcoming event, and finally fell asleep shortly before wake up call. She was feeling sore and overtired, although she looked as if in best shape ever. _Decades of training, it must be._ Cath mused. It would have been her official day off today but Ecklie called her in for the meeting with Gris. _Poor Gil, he never understood and wanted to understand all the politics going around in the lab._ It just wasn't his style of doing things. _I hope we still can be friends,_ Cath mused. _He has done so much for me, I would not even be here if he hadn't covered my ass a couple of times._ With a deep breath she entered Ecklie's office and managed to smile at Grissom.

"Hi, Gil! Conrad!" Cath nodded. "Sorry I'm late on my day off." She added sarcastically.

Ecklie did not react but just offered very gentleman like a seat to Catherine_. That so does not suite him,_ Cath frowned and took a chair next to Gris_. I do not want to look into his eyes when Ecklie's going to tell,_ she thought. Grissom felt that Cath was not very comfortable with him at the moment. If they only had talked before. Ecklie interrupted their thoughts.

"Well, uh, I have monitored the performance of the lab during the last couple of months and came to the conclusion that separation of graveyard was dead wrong."

Ecklie nearly looked kind of regretful and Cath and Gris couldn't believe what they have just heard. But both remained silent. That was so unlike Conrad to admit a fault. Then he dropped the bomb.

"Swing shift and graveyard will be merged again and you, Catherine are going to lead the team and become graveyard shift supervisor. Gil, with your CSI seniority you will be second in command. Big shoes, Catherine. You wanted them, so now wear them but don't loose them." Ecklie added ironically, nodded to both of them and left them stunned, not eager to discuss any of this matter.

Silence again. Grissom straightened and briskly stood up. Cath took a deep breath and encountered the look of his deep blue eyes.

"Cath, you knew this was going to happen, right?" She took his arm to hold him back. "Gil, look, I'm sorry."

"Well, Cath! You rule now." Grissom sighs. "Good luck! See you on shift!" Then he turned around without a second glance and left a concerned Cath behind.


	4. Overload

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Three – Overload 

"Hey Sara, sweetheart, love of my life, will you puhleeze wait for me!" Greg shouts it all over the place, so that people from the lab were turning around, obviously curious who would call that ridiculous woman ever a sweetheart.

"Greggo", she growls, "if you ever call me that again I will rip you apart. You know, violence is in my genes."

"Oh, come on, Sara, I've done it before." Greg gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Grissomed again, eh?"

She looked at him stunned. To stop her from getting into a rage mode, he offered truce.

"You definitely need one big mug of my famous coffee brand. Come on I'll make you happy." Greg smiled, took her arm and they both clocked in and headed for the break room.

"Hi there", Nick nodded to Greg and Sara. "Something's going on here. Warrick just spoke to Catherine. We are supposed to meet both her and Grissom in a few minutes to get our assignments. And the rumours in the lab tell something about reunion of shifts, perhaps we get to work together again. I missed you guys, you know. Especially working with you, Sara. Because Warrick, you know he is so not woman. You know what I mean?" Nick gave Sara a big dirty grin.

"Yeah, Texas, but you are, huh?" She gave him a hard punch on his shoulder.

"Ouch, that hurts." Nick rubbed his sore shoulder. "Wow, you have a heck of a punch, gal! Give it to me again, will you? No wait, you can do better, come one gimme a smile instead."

Sara couldn't help but smiling at Nick. Sweet Nicky, he's like a big brother to me.

"Nicky, I would also be so happy to be together with you again", she replied to his play in a soft seducing tone, "I missed you so much" and embraced him in a theatrical gesture. Then Warrick entered the break room, followed by Cath and Grissom. "Hey, Sara! Me too!" He greeted her with arms wide open.

"I so do not want to have you around at one of your bad days, Sara. But if this is gonna be one of your good ones, I wanna have my share!", Warrick grinned.

Grissom just briefly glanced at Sara but managed to pretend that he overheard their flirtative conversation.

Catherine looked around. "Well, now that everybody is in and on time… even myself", she tried to warm up the atmosphere, "we can start to hand out the assignments."

"Wait a minute", Warrick cut in. "Did I miss a memo? Where is Sophia. Isn't she supposed to be a part of the team. What is with the team anyway?"

Grissom took a deep breath. "Well, Sophia has already left and took some vacation days before her new assignment. We will have to work without her support in the future, I guess. She will be missed. And about the team, well Catherine, it is your turn now."

Catherine gave Gris a glare. "Thanks for that little introduction of yours, Gil." She gave back ironically. "Well, guys! Ecklie decided to put us together again at Graveyard and this time it would be" – she paused – "_me_ leading the shift. So now that everything is clear can we please start working?"

Sudden Silence! Greg managed not to drop the coffee he'd just prepared and even he did not find one single word. All eyes were centred on Grissom. Nobody dared to ask what would happen next to Grissom. Had he been fired or would he resign? Is he going to take over dayshift? Grissom, although still disappointed and weary felt that he had to do something. With an intense look Catherine was so pleading for support here.

"Alright guys, let's do what we are paid for. Let's uh, let's just talk later about it, ok? Cath, will you please continue?"

With demonstration of respect Gris turned to her showing that he will be ok, at least for now. Cath whispered a toneless thank you.

"Nick and Greg, you are on another B and E on Charleston. It seem to be a serial pattern showing up in that area. Warrick and I will continue working on the child abduction case. Warr, I will meet you in the morgue. Doc Robbins is already there. And Gil, we have a special request from a Sheriff Brooks in Jackpot. He discovered two DBs in a recent landslide and asked for your help. Take Sara with you."

After the others left the break room, still stunned from what they've just learned but shifting into professional mode for the meantime, Sara and Grissom were left alone.

"You ok?" Sara asked.

"I'll be fine." Gris nodded. "Let's roll and head home to pack some stuff. It will probably take one or two days. I'll catch up with you later and pick you up."

Sara just waved her hands but hardly understood that he did not want to talk about it right now. Disapproving but willing to him space to retreat she left. In the locker room she picked up her kit and weapon, slammed the locker door and ran full speed into Brass.

"Hey, cute girl, I have the feeling that you are just in the mood to kill somebody, Ecklie, I guess. But well, that's just me thinking. Look, I have heard what just happened", Jim calmed her down, "and I know best what Grissom might be feeling right now. Been there myself, remember? Give yourself and Gil a break and wait for him to deal with it, will you?"

Jim patted her gently, gave her a big bear hug and she allowed him to do so, resting for a second on his big chest, being comforted. "Take care, I have to rush and prepare for the encounter with the new big boss Catherine."

_Good Jim_, Sara watched him leaving. He always cared for her, made her safe. Once she thought he had a crush on her, because he was looking out for her when nobody else seem to care. Some times they watched movies at his house and she even got his keys to come over whenever she felt to need it. But their relationship remained strictly platonic. Sara once asked Jim bluntly how far he would think their thing could go. And he laughed at her. What do you think? It is still me, he stated amused about her upcoming embarrassment. The truth came out, as Jim admitted how deeply he missed his daughter and somehow adopted Sara to take over Ellie's role. What did he say? It just felt nice to have somebody around again. _Jim definitely needs a woman. Somebody he can really care for, he deserves it._

Cath entered the locker room and discovered Sara, still lost in her thoughts. "Sara, you still here?"

"I'm about ready to go, just got my stuff. Catherine, what have you done? I know that I was inappropriate to you and Grissom declined to fire me despite my insubordinate behaviour and now you are going to take it out on him?"

"Sara, calm down. It wasn't my decision. It was Ecklie's."

"But you started it! You are right in the middle of it, Catherine."

"Look, Sara. Grissom is fine with it, so should you. Now go work on the case. Perhaps you can get im into a talking mood. We will discuss all when you both are back from Jackpot, ok?"

Fine! Furiously Sara turned around and left without goodbye. Catherine sighed and shook her head. _Well, I am glad that they are out of the way. They both need a time out anyway_. In the meantime she would think about the direction of the organisational changes and consequences which may occur.


	5. Leave it Alone

For Disclaimer see Default Chapter 

**Chapter Four – Leave it alone**

Back home Sara grabbed her bag and checked it. She always kept a duffle with clothing prepared for sudden road trips. Some Tee's, tanks, chinos and simple underwear. She packed a second pair of boots and her – what she called for her own fun – vanity case. It only contained a toothbrush and toothpaste, shower gel, perfume and a hairbrush. What else would a woman not reaching for male company, need? Although certain men would tell her wrong, she did not feel very attractive. She looked in the mirror and stroke away a strand of her brunette hair. Sara gave herself a sarcastic grim, showing her the gap between her perfectly white teeth.

_I do not hate myself anymore_ she thought slightly bemused, _the counselling sessions did their good. I just started having fun with hating other people._ What a big change and opportunity. There are a lot of people around which can be hated. Sara got into it. _I already started with kiss-ass Ecklie and Catherine-the-bitch. Perhaps some day I will be ready to hate everybody in the lab. Well, probably not Greg, he's cute and if I would not have been too much and too long involved with my feelings in a certain other emotionally fucking unavailable person, it could have worked out between them, even though Greg was about four years younger._ But did age ever matter to her?

Grissom! Would she ever be able to hate Grissom? She felt pity for his demotion and could not understand that he seem to have accepted Ecklie's rearrangement. _He never fights, _she growls angrily, throwing the duffle on the floor. _Not with me, not with Conrad and never with Catherine. Does he even care about what has happened to him? _

_But if he is not angry,_ Sara asked herself, _why am I? Just because,_ she answered her mind. _Just because you have been, you are and you probably will always feelings for that man. _It may have started as a crush when they first met on one of his seminars. She managed to avoid thinking of him when she worked as a CSI in San Francisco but, oh yes, she still remembered her heart missing the beat, the weirdness in her stomach and the fuzzy feeling in her mind when Grissom called her to Vegas. And she stayed _because_ of him.

A brief knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. _That would be Grissom,_ she concluded, grabbed her bag and opened the door. He cocked his head as if being startled and asked with a rasp voice: "Hi, Sara! You ready to hit the road?"

It looked almost familiar to have him standing here outside her apartment again, waiting for her. She could get used to it. _If it at least would have been only once that he wouldn't be here out of pure professionalism. _She murmured. "What did you just say?" Grissom looked at her. _He couldn't have understood what she said, could he?_ He picked up her kit, non responsive.

She locked the door twice and followed him to his SUV. Gris opened the trunk and they put both her items next to his. After she entered the car Grissom had already buckled up, turned the key and revved up the engine while turning out of the parking lot. With screeching tyres they hit the road.

"Probably some kind of a man's outlet", Sara pondered. Before she could say another word Grissom just shut her up.

"Sar", he cleared his throat, "Sara, I really prefer not to discuss things that happened in the Lab right know. Please understand that I, uh, I need to adjust to that situation. I must admit that I did not foresee this explicit scenario."

"It probably hit us all by surprise, Gris. Except for Catherine", Sara added. "You ok with driving or shall I drive?" She carefully proposed after they nearly got hit by a truck.

"No, I'm fine. I'm still capable. I'll drive. Sorry, I've got to concentrate on the traffic now!"

He took the next driveway to 93 highway north and geared up. Sara gave him a side glance. Grissom looked very ill-humoured. His eyes were narrowed, his knuckles were white with the grip on the wheel. She tried to make herself comfortable and not to start worrying too much about Gris' feelings and his abilities to drive safely.

"Can we at least start talking the case, Gris? What do we know?"

"Alright, then! We have two male dead bodies covered in mud after a recent landslide. The local Sheriff called us in. He is, hm, kind of a friend, I think. At the end we were, I guess. Something like it. At least I got my stolen kit back and did not have to file a report on that." He put a half-smile on his face leaving Sara startled not quite understanding what he was talking about.

"Some time ago I had to work with him on a boy who was decapitated." Grissom explained. "A dog found a severed head. The Sheriff had it sent it to Vegas for autopsy and requested forensic support on the case. We found the rest of the body in the mountains, solved the case, it was a crime of passion. But at the end the case hit somehow very close to the Sheriff's home. During investigation my forensic kit was stolen, but I got it back."

"Well back to our case here, the bodies haven't been ID'ed yet, so we do not know much. COD of one is gun shot in the head, the second COD is still unknown. I told him not to move or touch anything the potential crime scene until we've arrived. Sheriff Brooks also called in an environmental geologist, a professor Philip Louis Solder from Nevada State Geological Survey, to investigate cause of the landslide. I guess we will meet him on site then."

He seemed a bit more relaxed now and Sara decided to calm down a bit by herself. She yawned and stretched her legs. "You mind if I take a quick nap?" She asked. "I am confused and tired and you do not want to talk anyway", she started explaining herself.

"No, go ahead. Make it so. Everything will be just fine."

"You said that once to often, Grissom." Sara mumbled, already half asleep. "I don't believe you."

Grissom quickly turned his head to look at her but did not continue. He watched her moving her body in a slightly more comfortable position. Gris handed her his jacked from the backseat and laid it over her. "There", he said. "In case you're getting cold. I would prefer to turn the AC colder, so that I do not get tired, ok?"

But no answer. Sara was already in slumber. That was fast, Grissom thought, she might be well exhausted. The same for me here, but he knew that with all the things turning around in his mind, there would be no way, he would find sleep easily in the next couple of days. With a deep sigh he forced himself back to concentrate on the road. Traffic was low and counting on the courtesy of his colleagues of Nevada State Police he accelerated beyond speed limit.


	6. Encounter in the Dark

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Five – Encounter in the Dark 

At about ten pm Grissom parked the car on a shoulder. The last forty something miles was a hell of a trip. The road had narrowed and was in bad condition. All money for the big city, he thought, nothing left for the country roads. He had to avoid several potholes and bumps. The climate had not been very gentle to the streets up here.

Jackpot, Nevada. Pop. 883. A rusty welcome sign sieved with bullet holes. Probably pellets, his forensic mind stated. Target wouldn't move, easy prey.

City limit would be another five miles away. But before arrival he wanted to stretch out and also wake Sara. During the trip she was mumbling several times, but inaudible for his ears, although his hearing was pretty much back to normal after surgery. She didn't wake up and she did not respond to him asking if everything is ok.

"Sara", he whispered and gently touched her shoulder, "Wake up. We are almost there." She began moving and stretching and rubbing her eyes. Her hair became slightly messed up during sleep and she looked cute with this dozy look in her face as if she did not realize where she is. Stop getting into this, Grissom reminded himself.

"Hey, Sleepyhead. Get out and grab some air. We will be in Jackpot in twenty minutes and I want you to be fit and alert by the time we get there. Right?"

"Alrighty", she yawned and stretched again, not knowingly showing some skin and bellybutton between shirt and slacks. _Now, she definitely has my attention,_ Grissom thought. His eyes where immediately attracted to that very pale spot. He blushed slightly and was thankful for the darkness in the car. Sara though didn't notice him struggling. She got out of the car and began to curse.

"Man, it's fucking cold up here." She pulled over Grissom's jacket and rolled up the sleeves. "XXL is not really my size, but at least it's warm", she said and while taking a deep breath of fresh air she continued thinking, _and the gown had a scent of Grissom. Just like being hugged by.. No stop doing that, _Sara, she reproved herself.

"Hey, look what I've found: Road sign shot to death. We must be in redneck country, huh?"

By the time they arrived in the centre of Jackpot, like a general store a gas station and a diner deserved that sophisticated description, everything was dark. "Well, that's a nice home coming party", Sara stated. Grissom remembered the location of the Sheriff's office and waved Sara to follow him. He knocked on the door while moving the door knob. It was open but nobody inside. Grissom frowned. Sara just slid by and discovered a note on the Sheriffs desk.

"Grissom, you can have the back office. See you tomorrow. Brooks." She read.

"Ok, Gris! Now, that's a nice friend. Just be sure that I never get to meet one of your enemies. And please don't tell me that Brooks doesn't know that's two of us."

"Hey, calm down, Sara. Let's first have a look, ok?" Grissom entered the back room and switched on the light. A bed, a couch and a couple of blankets. It was warm inside, heat still emanating from the wood burning fireplace, although only ember was left by now. On a table a stack of paper and the case file. The fridge was filled and a thermos flask of hot tea sat on a shelf waiting for them.

"There! Now let's have dinner first, you must be starving, well I am. You can start reading while I prepare some sandwiches. I know, no meat!" He answered smiling before she could add anything else.

With a cup of steaming tea she sat back relaxed on the sofa and put her shoes off. But instead of reading she watched Grissom making sandwiches.

"Didn't know that you can actually do that." She said.

"Well _actually_, I am a pretty good cook and that is not limited to preparing sandwiches, Sara." He simply answered over the shoulder to avoid the obviously irritated though curious impression in her eyes. "A bachelor's life does not necessarily exclude the joy of food preparation. It is distracting, creative and fun. You should try it."

Gallantly, almost with a butler-like gesture Grissom handed her a plate with two sandwiches, nicely decorated with parsley, tomato and carrot.

"Wow, it's real fresh food. Somebody around here has to know what to be put into a fridge. And, Gris, it's really good." She added between two bites.

"Sara, don't always go by the first impression. And that's not only valid for me." He winked. "People around here maybe different, but though they are still very human. Probably even more human than in the city. The really gruesome stuff happens back in Vegas, you know that."

After finishing their frugal meal in silence, Grissom collected and cleaned the dishes like it was in his natural behaviour. When he met Sara's surprised look he shrugged: "My Mom's drill."

"Well", he continued all-business, "I do not anymore expect to meet the Sheriff tonight, so we should rather try to catch some sleep. They are not running on nightshift schedule out here."

He left the room to give Sara some privacy to prepare for the night. After using the bathroom and taking a refreshing shower, she returned in her sweat gear. That would be warm enough to survive a cold night.

In the meantime Grissom got the rest of their baggage, the forensic kits and some sleeping bags from the car. Just to be on the safe side, he murmured, remembering last time's broken car window.

While Sara tried to make herself comfortable with the couch and covered herself in blankets, it was Grissom's turn to use the shower. He made it a quick one because Sara seemed to have consumed all warm water. But cold water was not the worst thing as he particularly needed to calm down anyway. Sharing a room with Sara, even under these circumstances, would be difficult enough. _That's pretty much one step to close for me._ He sighed. _Need my distance back._

He also changed into sweaters and shorts. Sara had already switched of the lights. He couldn't see much in the remaining glow coming from the fireplace but managed to sneak in without bumping against furniture. Finally he laid back on the bed which Sara had already prepared for him and tried to ignore the pain strike in his spine after the long ride.

Would it be to awkward to say good night? He must have said it out loud because Sara answered: "Good night as well, Gris!" _Well, that wasn't as weird as he thought it would be._ As if synchronized both turned around to their walls. And sleep did overcome them quickly despite the fact of their closeness and the slight weirdness of their situation.

It must have been around three a.m. when Grissom and Sara woke up alarmed by loud noises. Somebody was bumping against the front door.

"Hey, anybody?" A male voice shouted. Grissom stood up, grabbed his weapon and the flashlight. "You stay down", he whispered. "I'll go have a look."

He could see the silhouette of a man in dark clothing, wearing a backpack. Grissom suddenly opened the door with a verve and put his gun in the man's face.

"Hey, back off, dude! Hands, where I can see them!" Gris shouted, praying that he would come across more self-confident than he felt.

The man stood in shock, terrified and stuttered: "I, I am Professor Philip Louis Solder and I was supposed to investigate a landslide here. What the heck are you doing with that gun in my face?"

Grissom put down his weapon, took a deep breath and tried to get his heart rate back into moderate scale again.

"Professor, well, it's in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere and we have learned to be careful. I am Gil Grissom and this would be Sara Sidle." He introduced himself and Sara, who just approached. "We are with the crime lab. And you must be the geologist, I suppose. Come in and, uh, sorry for the inappropriate welcome." Grissom apologized.


	7. Slip and Slide

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Six – Slip and Slide 

Sara recognized that Solder was wearing biker boots and black leather gear, a helmet in his hand. _I can imagine that Grissom was alarmed by his outfit. He's looking dangerous, but attractive, works for me. _Solder was probably in his late thirties, a bit taller and slender than Grissom. He seemed not much to care about shaving and she had to admit that Solder looked pretty attractive with his dark brown messy hair and this quizzical look in his grey eyes.

"Glad to meet you, uh, Mr Grissom and very nice to meet you Miss or is it Mrs Sidle? Would you please put your weapons down. You're making me nervous. I am still shaken from the encounter with this Cowboy here."

"Please call me Sara, Professor", she avoided answering the specific question.

"OK, I go with Phil then." He put off his biker gloves and they shook hands. "Let's skip the rest of the introduction. I am pretty tired. Imaging driving down all the way from Reno without stopover. Not to forget the weather conditions and all this on a bike. Certain parts of me are pretty weary by now." He gave her a big smile. "So, where do I sleep?"

"Well, we only have one room to share", Grissom said.

"And it is already occupied", Philip nodded. He focussed on Sara and added in an ambiguous tone, "I understand." Sara could not help smiling. She liked that guy. Gris didn't say a thing to resolve that particular matter. His eyes were moving between Phil and Sara observing some kind of dynamics he did not feel very comfortable with.

"No problem, if you provide me some blankets, I'll get my sleeping bag and just settle down here. I've had worse." Said it and started removing his leather jacket. Sara returned with the requested items and a cup of tea.

"Here you are. Good night, then." She smiled.

"Have a good sleep too, honey!" Phil answered. Sara blushed when she saw Grissom watching her and quickly left the scene.

Grissom cocked his head, turned around and returned to the back office without saying another word.

Next morning Grissom woke up by the noise of conversation and laughter. _Haven't heard that for a while from Sara,_ he wondered. He did not sleep well after last nights encounter. _I'm getting too old for this. _Gris suppressed upcoming thoughts about yesterday's events and tried to focus on what would be on hand today. Quickly he used the bathroom and changed into a blue shirt and slacks, before joining the obviously alert younger people.

"Morning", he mumbled, trying not to show too much of his bad temper. Sara lifted one eyebrow but replied friendly.

"How about breakfast, Gris? Phil and I prepared it. Let's share." Grissom felt a shot of jealousy coming up. _That's no fair to her,_ he mused, _I do not have any rights and Sara deserves to have this kind of deviation._

Grissom grabbed the offered mug and plate and murmured a thanks. After the first sips of strong black coffee he felt much more alert and joined the friendly small talk about getting to Jackpot and first impressions of this town.

Then Sheriff Brooks arrived.

"Hello, Dr Grissom!" Brooks tipped his hat. "This time you brought your wife with you?" And nodded to Sara. Grissom felt Sara's puzzled look on him.

"Not wife, uh, Sara Sidle, uh, also with the crime lab." Grissom hastily responded.

"Well, well, your wife's ok? With that, I mean? Revealing secrets, remember?" Brooks watched Grissom squirm. "Never mind."

"I didn't suppose this guy's married", Solder whispered in Sara's ear. Sara suppressed a smile and she whispered back "Neither did I."

"Well then, I am Lieutenant Alan Brooks", the Sheriff introduced himself to Sara seemingly not fond of having a woman doing a man's job. Then he shook hands with Solder and thanked him for the prompt follow up of his request.

"Sorry, we are not very well prepared to have so many important guests around and I thought that you guys just could share the back office. Didn't know we would have a lady around." He smirked.

"We are just fine", Grissom answered. "You might just want to find something more comfortable for the professor."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Let's roll now. The vet will be meeting us at the crime scene.

"It is not a crime scene yet", Grissom corrected the sheriff, "without context it may just be an unfortunate coincidence."

The Sheriff waved aside and grunted. "Whatever gets you going!"

Brooks invited Solder into his police car and asked Grissom to follow in their SUV. Gris and Sara grabbed their kits, jackets and baseball caps and entered the car.

"A vet?" Sara wanted to know. "Aren't we talking human bodies here?"

"Sara", Grissom explained, "Dr Dale Sterling is probably the only doctor around in a hundred miles perimeter. Up here he is pretty much veterinary, physician and probably also dentist in one person. Just in case I would recommend that you rather might want to stay healthy."

After half an hour drive over logging roads they arrived at the scene. It had stopped raining for a while but the surface still was muddy and slippery so that Grissom had to shift his Denali into four wheel drive. Although sliding a few times he managed to keep pace with the Sheriff's car.

Solder was ready to climb over the debris when Grissom called him back. "Stop, Solder! You may well be contaminating evidence. Can we please work coordinated here? Let's concentrate on the bodies first. Humour me, will you?"

"Grissom", Phil replied angrily. "This site has probably already been compromised or however you call it. Or do you see any crime scene tape over here?"

"Sheriff, where have the D.B.s been found and who did find them?" Grissom ignored Solders comment.

Brooks told them that he found the bodies after following the trace of the landslide. "That would pretty much rule out your first witness first suspect approach, right?" He added.

"I never rule anything out", Grissom responded grimly.

Carefully, avoiding not to slip on the soil they approached the bodies. They found them half covered in debris, rain washed their faces but still they looked like upright clay models of human form. Hands clutched and still in position if reaching of something to grab for safety.

"Sara, footprints! Take pictures from the perimeter and make sure that you get Sheriff Brooke's shoeprint to match it and rule him out."

Grissom kneels near to one of the bodies. "Hm, body in full rigor, but not much decomp here", he stated. "So it seem that they probably died while the landslide occured. Some signs of vulture activity on the limbs state that they have been here long enough to become prey", Grissom looked in the air. "No plant material on the bodies, only geological remains." He took some evidence photos and bagged some dirt found on the bodies.

"They must have been standing very close together when this happened. They are just a couple of feet apart from each other", he gestured to the Sheriff.

The veterinary stood waiting in the background for Grissom. "Doctor Sterling, any idea of T.O.D?" Sterling looked at him startled. "Estimated time of death, sorry." Grissom repeated.

Sterling shrugged. "It's not that easy to determine. Preliminary I would estimate not more than 24 hours. But the mud may have pretty well conserved the bodies. So one of them might be dead longer. I need to have a better look before I can tell. I authorize release of bodies. Now you can go ahead and teach me."

"Solder, can you please investigate what had been causing this and probably help with establishing a time line?" Grissom turned to the geologist.

"That's why I'm here, Dr Grissom. Can I go and climb up now?"

"Go ahead", Grissom replied impatiently. "But take the Sheriff with you and watch your step." Phil refused to give an answer and scoffed. Arrogant bastard, who's making you boss here anyway? He mumbled.

"He always like this?" Phil asked Sara. "Well, occasionally!" She shrugged and concentrated on collecting evidence. The geologist grabbed his equipment and left.

"Hey, Dr Grissom." The Sheriff shouted back while leaving, "You might wanna hurry up. It's going to start raining again and what you call evidence will then be gone by then." As if to prove him right, the first drops started falling.

"Alright", Grissom said to Sara and the vet, "Let's recover the bodies quickly and bring them back to your place, Doc."

They started to dig up the victims with the help of the other deputies when it started pouring.

"Be sure to collect some of the debris and mud as well. It might be helpful geological evidence and hurry up." He prompted to Sara.

Together they managed to move the bodies into a van and wrapped them in plastic to preserve as much evidence as possible under these circumstances.

"Wait a sec, Grissom said, and took a swab from the bullet entry hole on the left temple. When he took a closer look he saw it. "Short distance shot of a small calibre. Now, I think we have our crime scene!" He stated.


	8. Ambivalence

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Seven – Ambivalence 

Catherine entered the morgue tried to focus on the case while Doc Robbins performed the autopsy on the dead girl with Warick attending.

"First it had looked like an abduction which went fatal, but during investigation it turned out that the mother faked the story because she had offered her kid to willingly paying child molesters." He explained to the doctor. "It never ceased to amaze me what members of a family can do to each other." Doc Robbins sighed. "You think you've heard it all and then this. Her own mother sold her out!."

"Yeah, and when the kid was getting to old for this special audience, she killed her, dumped her and made up the abduction story." Cath shook her head.

"Girl died of asphyxia by strangulation with a scarf." Robbins picked up some fibres from her throat.

"I'll bag it and get it to Hodges, see if we have a match with the scarf we found back in the mother's apartment." Said Warrick and left.

"Well, Catherine! You did a nice take-off in your career since Ecklie rules." Doc Robbins stated in an ambiguous undertone intending to provoke a reaction. "Oh, Al! Not you. Please don't to there." She answered in a resigning voice and looked hurt.

"The only thing I really wanted was dayshift." Cath started to explain. "I wanted the supervisor job because I was ready and knew that I can do it and I wanted to have some quality time in daylight with my daughter. Then when Ecklie gave me swing shift, my daughter turned me down, not longer in need of a mother who finally managed to organize her life. Then Sara blew up at Ecklie and Grissom refused to fire her, so Ecklie got totally pissed off. Grissom is a stubborn, politically tone deaf idiot when it comes to Ecklie." Cath ended breathless.

Doc Robbins patiently waited for further outburst. He had known her for years now and always appreciated her passion and dedication. And she always had a strong thing for justice. Cath would manage her issue, he knew that and if he would be the catalyst, fine with him.

"Al, I simply don't know what to do about that. Gris has always my mentor and covered my back. Being his supervisor? That's just not feeling right. I'd rather prefer to work with him under his purview than the other way round. The team was at his best, when we used to work together.

"So you wanna skip the promotion?" Al carefully questioned.

"Well, I'm going to think it over, I guess. However, thanks for listening, Al!" She kissed his cheek, "you are always helpful, I'm feeling a bit better now." Robbins gave her a shy smile with a discarding gesture. "Uh, never mind." He replied. "But I could get used to this." He pointed on his cheek. Cath smiled at him, waved a goodbye and left the morgue.

"Hey, Cath!" Warrick called. "Fibre is a match to the mother's scarf and we found her fresh epithelial on it. Case breaker. She killed her daughter."

"Good work, Warr! Report that to Jim, will you? But first, may I have a word with you in private please?" "Sure, go ahead." He nodded.

Catherine knew that she could count on Warrick's opinion. "Warrick, we never talked about it but tell me, how did it feel to become one of my co-workers instead of having Grissom as boss?"

"Cath, honestly. I didn't care so much. It is difficult to compare your leadership styles though. Well, Grissom is Grissom." He shrugged, "But you deserved the promotion, you are capable, you are a good superior and I enjoy working with you. By the way you definitely have the more attractive butt." He smiled. "Seriously, compared to Grissom you even are the better leader. Believe me. Why are you asking?"

Catherine closed her office door and started to explain what finally lead to Grissom's encounter with Ecklie ending with his demotion and how bad she felt about the thing that Ecklie made her a part of it.

"Cath, if you really want to go for this, do it and don't bother about Grissom. But in case you would have something else in mind, let's make a plan and mingle with the others. Nick and Greg will let us know if they would buy in wherever we are headed, don't you think? Give them a little credit, huh?"

Warrick continued on elaborating an idea how to possibly change their situation. "Cath, whatever happens, I'll be on your side, you know that." He hugged her firmly and kissed her on her forehead. She sighed and stroked his cheek. "Thanks, Warrick! I owe you."

"Yeah, don't think I wouldn't collect your debts! Let me know, when you're ready. Then let's find Greg and Nick."


	9. Caveat Search

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Eight – Caveat Search 

"Hey, Grissom! I got soaked to the skin. Need for change here. You should do the same. We really do not need a flu, do we?" Sara lifted her baseball cap which was heavy with water. Raindrops kept dropping from her hair and run over the face. "You looking cute with that curly hair of yours, Gris". She smiled.

"Yeah, thanks. You look cute too." He gave her a little smile realizing that this had been his first attempt to answer her in a flirtative way for a long, long time. "Let's return to the office first, change clothing and then continue investigating the bodies at the vet's place."

Back at the Sheriff's Grissom ordered Sara to go ahead changing and ended up sneezing several times. "Bless you" it shouted from the back. Grissom took a seat and rested his feet on the Sheriff's desk. He put his glasses down, closed his eyes and laid back relaxed listening to the rain.

I have seen her changing clothes before in the locker room. Similar situation, no need to get nervous, he mused. Though, there was this weird new feeling he had difficulties to identify, something very much apart from a professional point of view. Something new that accelerated his heart rate. I am still not sure what to do about this. Grissom sighed.

He flinched by a sudden gentle touch from behind, fingers resting on his tense shoulders, beginning a massage. A slight scent of…her. "Sara," he whispered, "Please. Don't. Do. That." He was not very convincing though. Gris turned around and took her hands to stop her from doing him… Harm. _Is this was you think she would do to you?_ Grissom said to himself. _Harm you?_ His deep blue eyes were meeting hers, melting in each other. He got confused by the open expression in her face. Usually he managed to stare her down, got her to turn away from him. But not this time. She was an open book for him. He was not sure what he was reading in her eyes but he saw softness, understanding, passion and…love? _What will she be going to see in my eyes?_ He wondered.If he dared to hold the glance any longer he would loose himself. Grissom emerged from his seat but still kept holding her hands. Very close now, too close. Before he could have completely lost it, his inner alarm bell went off furiously. In kind of a panic he averted his eyes, loosened the grip, cleared his throat.

"My turn, huh?" he managed to say in a rasp voice. Sara realized that probably for the first time ever she somehow looked behind the wall Grissom had built up to lock out all varieties of emotional interference. "Yeah, Gris. You're leaking…out." She smiled.

When he finally returned in dry clothing he was all business again, emotionally settled down and back on the case. "Here we go."

The deputies who helped Dale Sterling with the bodies had already left when Grissom and Sara entered the vet station. Each body were lying on a separate table which were usually occupied by domestic pets, mostly dogs and cats, surrounded by their concerned owners.

"Doc, thank you for bringing them in. You might wanna put on some dry clothes too." Sara felt pity for the poor guy, who left sniffing and sneezing.

Sara and Grissom put their latex gloves on and started pick pocketing the victims. "Sara, remember. Just look, not investigate. We need an authorized coroner, so we will have to bag the vics and bring them all the way back to Vegas."

"Gris, you can't be serious. I am not going to drive back with two dead bodies in the trunk."

"You won't. I can do that and you may ask the Sheriff if he can give you a lift."

"Oh great. No wait, I know better. I'm going to ask Solder if he gives me a ride." She replied slyly to his proposal.

"At your service, honey!" It came shouting from the door. Phil shook himself like a big dog, spreading rain drops all over the place. He grabbed a towel offered by the vet who just returned to attend the body search and came up close to Sara. "What can I do for you?" he asked in a seducing tone.

Sterling harrumphed in an attempt to catch their attention. "Look Grissom, after the head case, I got into it. I mean the coroner thing. Uh, I, uh, in the meantime I took some courses, you know. I was a medic before I became a vet, that worked for me. Got my coroner's certification a couple of weeks ago. I know how to cut and now I am authorized." He gave them a shy smile. "Could need the practice though."

Sara burst into laughter. "Hey, I have never seen a guy so keen and enthusiastic about opening a body. You also going to stay, Phil?"

"Naw, don't make me. I'm not a forensic and I prefer to keep my stomach contents were they are. I'm good with rocks though, remember? Hey, Grissom. I've collected several geological material from uphill. Let me have your evidence from the place of discovery and I can continue investigating the cause of the landslide and establish a time line for you."

Grissom nodded and handed him over several bagged and sealed envelopes. "This is all we have", he said. "everything else has been washed away."

"I think I can make something out of it. See ya guys later."

"Alright. Both dead men had wallets with them. It's our lucky day! Driver's licences inside, well that's an easy one." Sara read the names. "One Clark Vincent, 39 and the shooting vic is named Drake Merchant, 35 both registered in Ely. Also containing gaming cards, not valid though due to off season, a couple of small bills and a photo of a woman posed. Oh, oh. Same woman here, what do you think, Grissom? Do we have motive? I'm going to take the fingerprints and fax them back to the lab. Perhaps we get a hit on CODIS."

"Make it so." Grissom nodded. "And hand the photo of the woman to Sheriff Brooks. Perhaps he can get her identification."

In the meantime Grissom and Sterling concentrated on the shooting victim, removed his clothing and cleaned up the face to examine the gun shot wound.

"Entry wound on left temple with gun shot residue, that's execution style. Small calibre. Bullet left the head on the right temple." Sterling remarked. Carefully he opened the victim's chest. "Help me out here, will you?" he asked Grissom. "Fractures and contusions caused post mortem, no signs of inner bleeding. He must have been dead before he got caught by the landslide." the vet stated very professionally. He started examining the stomach contents and found something white. "He must have swallowed it before he died. Nearly no signs of digestion. Perhaps it's good for something." Grissom used his tweezers to pick up what he thought was a piece of crumpled paper. He raised an eyebrow. "Congratulation, Sterling. You did good."

"Let's continue with the second guy." Grissom encouraged the doctor. "Sara. Please take a closer look at this." Grissom said and handed her the paper ball.

They quietly worked on the examination of the second body. "Broken neck. Blunt force trauma. Probably occurred during the landslide. Hm. He got to swallow a lot of mud, soil in his lungs, nose, everywhere. Also a lot of broken bones and bruises with bleeding. He had lived for a while before he suffocated. Must have suffered quite a bit. It might just have taken minutes but for him it must have felt like forever."

Grissom and Sterling finished with the bodies and covered them with some white bed sheets. Just in case some of the usual customers of the vet would show up.

Sara returned. "I've managed to enfold the paper ball. It's a letter probably from the girl on the photo. Some is illegible, ink dissolved by saliva and stomach acid. But it says something about a Shirley who is going to end a relationship with Clark. It doesn't tell why though, but I guess if we could ask Drake here, he would know the answer. Motive would be jealousy. Clark shoots Drake, got bad luck and went down with his victim."

"But how did Clark convince Drake to meet him up here?" Grissom wondered. "Nothing easier than that." Sara smiled. "Just received fax message from the lab. Both guys convicted for poaching. Several times caught in the act of big game hunting off season. They used to hunt together. Probably they usually shared. This rule seem not to apply for the woman though."

Then Solder returned breathless. "Grissom, I just finished examining the probes I've collected from the uphill and the slide itself and compared it to the soil you have found with the bodies.

This type of landslide is called debris flow and is made up of a mixture of water-saturated rock debris and soil maybe with a consistency similar to wet cement. Debris flows move rapidly down slope under the influence of gravity. That would be the explanation to this natural event. Loose rock or mineral material would be dislodged from bedrock by mechanical means and transported from its place of origin. It's called detritus. So what you expect so see is that mineral remains on the bodies would be the identical with uphill probes. They are not consistent. It doesn't match to the flow of the debris. Whatever happened between the guys, it did not happen uphill."


	10. Black Widow

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Nine – Black Widow 

They met the Sheriff in his office to share the information they had gathered so far. Brooks reported the he had managed to identify the woman. Shirley's full name was Shirley Ann Vincent, aged 29 also living in Ely.

"I started calling the victim's telephone numbers and she picked up the phone from Vincent's place. It's my guess that she obviously still lives with him or at least under the same address. So I told her about her what happened to her husband and friend. You know, I would have expected some emotional reaction. But she seemed not to be shocked in either way. Just all busy and more than willing to come up to identify the bodies. She said that she didn't like driving nights, so she will arrive tomorrow morning, if that's ok for you guys."

"It obviously has to, Sheriff!" Grissom frowned but Brooks shrugged "Do something about it." So Grissom just continued telling Brooks about the conflicting information they got when Solder discovered the inconsistencies in minerals and soil found on the bodies and collected from the hill.

"I'm not sure that I understand", Brooks turned to the geologist.

"Whatever happened between the guys. It didn't happen uphill. They must have met on foot of the hill and got caught by the extension of the slide. It may well be", Solder explained, "that the other guy wasn't at all finished by natural cause. I'm pretty convinced that his severe head injury has occurred before the landslide."

"So, my first guess" Sara threw in, "had been on Clark setting up a fake poach scenery inviting Drake. They used to hunt together, didn't they. Uphill, Clark started arguing with Drake over Shirley, threatened him, forced him to swallow the letter and finally shot him. Than landslide occurred, bringing down both, the shot victim and his obvious killer, who died on the ride downhill, ended up with his neck broken." Sara said. "But here's the twist, if Clark was already unconscious or dead before and didn't die in the slide, then who killed Drake?"

"My theory would be on somebody he knew and trusted." Grissom said. "The gun shot has been from close range, remember? So, Sara, level with me. If the timeline projects another scenario, what would you think?"

"Well, so far we do not have a suspect. Or weapons for that case, neither a gun nor an object capable to cause blunt force. We have complicated geological evidence, difficult to explain to a jury by the way, to establish the timelines of deaths." Sara stated.

"So I'm going with my gut feeling here telling me that it may have started as a poach trip which ended up in an argument about the wife. They started fighting, the younger man, Drake, hit Clark with some hard object, probably weapon of opportunity. A branch maybe? Clark got paralysed when the blow broke his neck. Than Drake hold him on the ground, put his face in the dirt to suffocate him. Than what?" Sara looked expectantly to Grissom. "One thing does not make sense for me. Why did Drake had to swallow the sheet of paper? To destroy evidence, to conceal a motive? Or did Clark manage to force him to eat it before his own fortune went down? We'll never know."

"I hate to state the obvious", Grissom answered, "but it may not be of importance why that piece of paper ended up in his guts. As for now it is just helping us to put things into content and it leads to another person involved in that particular case. The wife, Shirley. Now we have to find evidence to put her at the scene."

"Isn't that jumping into conclusions, Grissom?" Sara frowned. "We didn't even talk to her. Maybe she has an alibi for time of death?."

"Well, Sara! It's about people. Cases like this mostly end up with a relative involved in the murder. Love, passion, jealousy, anger, hate. All of the above, people tend to ending up dead. I'm pretty sure about Shirley's involvement. We just cannot prove it yet."

"Come on, Grissom. You're a people person now? When did this happen?"

Grissom shrugged "I've also learned something. I can change."

"Can we have dinner or something, I'm starving." Solder interrupted them. "Anyway, my work is done and I have the feeling that my presence is not longer needed. So I'm gonna leave tomorrow morning."

"You were of great help though." Grissom stated. "Ever thought about a career in forensics?"

"Oh no thanks", Solder refused, "I prefer my places without dead bodies showing up. Rocks, minerals and nature is what keeps me going."

"Professor, grab your stuff. You can sleep over at the vet's place tonight. I'll give you a lift. We'll meet at the diner's then." Brooks nodded to Grissom and Sara.

Grissom and Sara had just finished their first drinks, when the Sheriff and the geologist returned.

"Same for me here" Solder waved Gloria pointing at Sara's beer. "And make it a big one."

"And for you Alan? Same?." She asked the Sheriff. He nodded. His eyes followed her when she left.

"You have a thing for her, Sheriff, do you?" Solder smiled at him. "I'm good with reading people's minds, you know."

"Non of your business, Sir." Brooks growled.

They ordered steaks and fries, the kitchen had some issues preparing appropriate vegetarian food for Sara. But she was absolutely fine with baked potato and a side salad.

The group finished their meals in silence and ordered another round. Grissom first rejected the invitation from Solder but finally agreed. It wouldn't do any harm to have another beer, there would anyway not much work to be done tonight, he mused.

When the Sheriff called it a night and left, the three of them got into small talk about nature trips, travelling and then motorcycles. It came out that Sara knew a lot about this particular issue, because once she dated a biker. Grissom watched Sara laughing and telling from a life of which he was never a part of. And found her responding to Phil Solder's advances. She seemed to enjoy it, she was relaxed and obviously having fun.

Grissom cleared his throat. "I'm going back to the office do some paper work. Good night, Sara. Professor." He nodded.

"You need help?" Sara wanted to know. "No, have some fun. I'll be fine." Said it and left the diner.

"He said it again!" Sara wondered. "What do you mean?" Phil asked.

"Well" Sara started to explain, "A lot of things happened back in Vegas. I do not particularly wanna talk about it, but Grissom and I, we, uh, had issues."

"You had a relationship, which did not work out?" Phil guessed.

"NO." Sara blushed. "It wasn't like this." Then she quickly continued, "I made a mistake, I was insubordinate to a superior, blew up at colleagues. Grissom covered my ass and got demoted because of it. It's all my fault." She sighed.

"I don't think so, Sara." Phil took her hand. "If he wanted to take care for you, to cover you up in that situation, he will have evaluated the odds and also considered certain consequences. His decision, his fault. Not yours. But, you know, by the way he's looking at you, heck, this old man definitely has a thing for you."

"He isn't THAT old." Sara murmured almost inaudible. Phil scoffed "Oh, come on, Sara. Please don't tell me you have a crush on him."

"I don't. And would you please lower your voice. I don't think that the public is much interested in my private life." Sara replied slightly embarrassed.

"Sara, look at me, I'm probably ten years younger and far more attractive than this guy. What does he have that I don't have?" He teased her and smiled.

"Stop it Phil. It's late. Let's pay the bill and go."

Sara waved at Gloria, but their dinner had already been paid by the Sheriff. So they left.

The geologist accompanied Sara back to the Sheriff's office. When she struggled caused by a bump in the road, he lifted her up before she fell and suddenly she found herself in his arms.

Their faces were just a few inches apart so Phil took hers in his palms and bowed down to kiss her. A bit light-headed from beer consumption Sara answered his striving. Phil carefully tasted her lips, then kissed her harder, more passionate, encouraged by her reaction, feeling her hand on his neck, in his hair, her responding body pressing against his.

"Phil, please." She winced and tried to loosen his grip. "Let's. Not." The whispered breathless. She put a hand on his chest. "You're cute, Phil. I like you. And perhaps, I mean, if we ever meet again… uh, I don't know what I'm doing anymore." Sara stammered.

"Hey, Sara. Shh, it's ok. I like you too. But there are certain issues you have to resolve first and currently you're obviously not…hmm…available." Phil hugged her and gave her a last kiss on the forehead. "I will see you eventually. If you want, I'll let you know when I'm in Vegas. I better go now. Take care, will you?" Sara nodded and handed him her business card. "In case you ever need a CSI, Phil. Have a safe trip back to Reno." She waved at him and entered the Sheriff's office.

In the dark of the office stood Grissom, watching the scene.


	11. Conspiracy

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Ten – Conspiracy 

"Hey Cath!" Nick shouted along the hall way, just returning from his crime scene. "I've heard you already bagged your case. Any chance we can get a hand with our BEs? Same MO as the last five cases, forced entry concentrating on main floor level, cutting the window with a diamond knife near the lever, in and out within seconds. The perp or plural, we don't know that yet, is just grabbing what's lying around. Mostly even worthless stuff. Low profile, no witnesses, no viable suspect, this case sucks. I'm stuck here."

"Alright, Nicky. What do we have? Any coincidences? What do the locations have in common?" Catherine tried to help.

Greg answered "Well, same area, main floor entry, victims are young females, break in is pretty easy, old fashioned locks. Big windows, also good to spy in. We didn't find any semen or viable foot prints though. Perhaps somebody is using binoculars. That's how I would do it." He grinned.

"Sounds like somebody's escalating, huh?. It may have started as peeping, now BE, trophy hunting, maybe? What's missing? Underwear, maybe shoes or scarf?" Warrick said.

Nick nodded "That's exactly what I was thinking. Well, the only guy who was hanging around and getting on my nerves with his over-helpfulness was the janitor, Paul Whatshisname. His fingerprints were all over the scenes. Which does make sense, because he's doing all the repairing. But why should this guy break in if he's got all the apartment keys?"

"Perhaps he wanted a look-alike, so that he can be the good guy. Let Brass get a warrant for his place, perhaps we get lucky and find evidence. If we imply trophy collecting, then somebody definitely likes to keep it." Catherine suggested.

Later the day Nick, Greg and Brass returned to the crime scene and paid janitor Paul Redovski a particular visit. Hidden behind a secret door in his closet they finally found what they were looking for.

"He kept piles of lady's gown, underwear, shirts and so on in this locker. Well, it was definitely not La Perla, but some pieces were, well, very, hmm, zestfully." Brass reported to Catherine after bringing in the suspect.

"Best was what we found on his computer. Redovski set up a homepage where he sold this stuff. There are actually people paying lot's of Georges for worn lady's clothing. He had orders coming in from all over the country. Gross! But he made quite a buck with it, keeping FedEx busy. When he started his, uh, particular business, Redovski just went shopping and crumpled the stuff to make it look like it was worn. But the customers wanted authentic stuff, he had claims. I rather not talk about the details of what had been missing. Anyway, to meet his customer's expectations he looked for new opportunities of supply. So he entered the apartments using the front door with his main key, grabbed what he needed and left. Later on in the dark he set up the BE to avert suspicion from him. But he insisted that he never harmed or scared the girls living in. He always made sure that they left before he went in. Perhaps if he just would have asked and shared the profit, some of the girls would have happily provided him with this stuff voluntarily"

"Jim, please don't even think about it!" Catherine stopped him. "You definitely need a woman to control your pheromones and fantasy." Brass blushed slightly.

"Well, guys. Case closed then." Catherine sighed. "Nick, Warrick, Greg, Jim. You are free either to go home now and pretend that everything is going to be alright in this place or you stay and listen what I have to say."

"Jim, you are not, how should I say it, a team member, so to say. So if you would rather to prefer to step out now, it is perfectly ok." Catherine looked at him very seriously.

"Catherine, don't offend me. It is about Grissom, isn't it? He's a friend. I rather stay and listen, you can trust me, whatever you are going to say. But first, I would suggest any other place than the office if you wanna talk, uh, in private."

"Yeah, Jim. Let's meet at Charlie's. That's less conspicuous." She smirked. "At least then we all can have something to eat, right?"

They nodded in agreement and split. Nobody in the lab noticed at all, that something was going on with this team besides business. That there was a specific re-bonding, like back in the days they worked together as a team in graveyard. A certain spirit was back.

Catherine brought them up to scratch about the conversation with Ecklie, Grissom's non-responsiveness and fallback. She shared her feelings about this, and about the undeserved second promotion. "I rather prefer getting promoted by merit not by Ecklie's courtesy. Now I'm afraid if Grissom finally makes his mind up, that he may quit. He kept his distance in the past couple of weeks and started talking about a request from University in Wisconsin. They want to have him as lecturer for entomology in crime scene investigation. I must admit that I do not feel very comfortable with loosing him. And I'm not talking about the lab here, I also don't want to loose a friend." Catherine almost burst into tears.

"Well, guys. Help me out here. What are we going to do? I myself already decided to go to Ecklie and resign, if Grissom would decide to leave the lab because of this. But I can just speak for myself."

Warrick was the first to answer. "Grissom always had my back. I wouldn't even have a job and a future, if he hadn't been more than a boss, uh, back the days when I messed up and Holly died. Not to forget how he supported me with my gambling issues. As for a friend, I'm also going to quit. I can find a job in San Francisco or wherever."

"I'm on the same page here" Nick's answer came after some awkward seconds of silence. "I never really liked the team split anyway. Sorry Cath, it's not about you and your leadership style. I just liked the team as it was. And if we aren't a team anymore, I rather go look for another location. We CSI's are needed everywhere."

Everybody looked at Greg. He was feeling quite uncomfortable with all eyes resting on him. "Look, sorry guys, I really need the money. I cannot afford to quit. Moreover I do not have the professional experience you have to easily find another CSI job." Greg went silent again. Then he lifted his head and showed them a grim smile. "But, I can go back to the lab anytime. Buh bye crime scene investigator, hello again lab rat."

Brass didn't say anything. He listened and learned. What a great team Grissom has. No wait, not his team anymore, but still. They are great people. What's his secret, he wondered. This deep loyalty and sympathy. Grissom did some things right here. Grissom would never have asked for friendship though and he also would never admit that he needs people he can rely on, but here they are, his friends. Acting without asking for his permission, willingly choosing a way to help him out, even if it would have bad consequences.

Brass had to clear his throat before he could answer, quite affected by their statements. "As member of the law enforcement I have to tell you that this plan is pretty close a mutiny. You all can get fired for this and loose your professional reputation. You might as well end up in facility management or at a gas filling station, just to name two options. And I'm not exaggerating here. I myself probably could still get a job as private-eye though." He lifted the collar of his jacket and imagined smoking a cigarette."So not too bad perspectives for me here. Well, I'm on it. Catherine, how are you going to handle this?"

"Well, I thought about giving Ecklie a lap-dance while telling him." Brass swallowed but got it. "You're not serious." She started laughing. "No, but I will invite him to dinner and talk it out. I plan on having you guys all waiting somewhere in the background and on call in case he wouldn't believe. I am pretty sure that Ecklie cannot afford loosing a whole shift. He may be able to replace one or two of us without creating too much fuss, but the whole team? This will backfire on him personally. HR will call in an internal investigation and probably ask some uncomfortable questions, and create some unwanted negative publicity. Yeah, it's cheap blackmail, but it is the only weapon we've got." Cath picked up her mobile and made the call.


	12. Every Now and Then

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Eleven – Every Now And Then 

"Uh, Grissom. What the...! You've scared the shit out of me!" In the semi-darkness of the Sheriff's office Sara could barely see anything but his silhouette. He switched on a desk lamp. The expression in his face was pure Grissomish non-expressive.

With one eye-brow lifted he said in a soft tone "Sara, may I have a word with you?" not showing the inner turmoil of his emotions. He was in absolute control.

"Uh, look! I…Phil and I…this was…." Sara stumbled.

"Sara!" He interrupted her sternly. "I'd rather prefer not to talk your private life. As long as you're doing your job this is none of my business." came out bluntly. "But we are on a case, remember? And by the way I need your advice on something else." He added in a softer tone.

"Yes, sir!" Sara said bustling, though still confused by what happened a few minutes ago when she found herself in Phil's arms. They returned in the more comfortable back office where Grissom had set up a fire. They sat down, Sara on the sofa, Grissom in an armchair. He offered her a mug of fresh tea. She made herself comfortable trying to ignore the enhancing emotional distance between them. The tea refreshed her and sobered her up a bit. Her brown eyes were resting on Grissom now. He preferred to stare in his mug and didn't return her look. . "I'm all ears. Go ahead!" she hoped that it would sound as business as usual.

"I was wondering" Grissom mused, "if the wife has been in the charade from beginning or if she just came in at some point in the middle. Perhaps she's not a suspect but also a victim of unpredictable circumstances."

"But perhaps she planned the whole thing, you know, motivating her lover to go for the lover-kills-husband scenario." Sara said. "except she couldn't foresee the natural event, of course."

"Yes, but why then would she shoot her lover at the end? That doesn't make sense." Grissom asked. "Perhaps she felt that her lover planned something and went after him, when he killed the husband."

"Or she wanted to get rid of her lover and asked her husband to kill him to live happily ever after. And this plan went wrong."

"We do not have any evidence to prove either of these scenarios, Sara. And in cases like this I sometimes get the feeling that evidence is not enough. Never mind, we should probably not jump into conclusions before we finally meet that lady in person. The sheriff gave me some background information on the vics and our female suspect.

Clark Vincent, the husband is a tradesman, freelancing in construction. Hence often away from home, but making quite good money. House, two cars, neighbours stated a healthy relationship. No arguing or fighting. And she is employed with Drake's Gym in Ely, works as a fitness trainer." Grissom flipped through his notes.

"At least we have a connection. Wife home alone, taking opportunity of an extra-marital romance, commencing a liaison with her boss, who also seemed to be a friend of Clark, at least a friend in mind when it came to wild game. The older guy reliable husband material, the younger for the itching, mh, uh, for the passion?"

"Yeah", Grissom cleared his throat. "So it seem. Sara, you tired?"

"No, I'm good. What's up next?" During their conversation she calmed down an got back to working mode.

"I, uh, we, I mean, we hadn't the opportunity really to talk about what happened with Cath and Ecklie and, well, me. It seem that Ecklie finally got what he wanted. He had always been a pain in the ass, just waiting to see me screw up, which I did."

Sara opened her mouth to object, but Grissom calmed her down with a gesture of his hand. Now that he opened that Pandora's box of his mind he wanted to continue.

"No Sara, we know both that I am first and always a scientist, not a leader. I have never been good with people, hence the management style turned out even worse. Without Catherine there wouldn't have been much of a management. Of course I was giving out the assignments but it was often her who coordinated the follow-ups and I was lucky to have a team which didn't need to be micro-managed. But I feel that I completely failed in the few cases that some of you needed my help. I screwed everything up, Sara, especially with you." Grissom firmly looked in her eyes and before she could even manage to gather herself due to his last comment he continued, "This will probably the last case here, I'm going to leave. My days with the crime lab have been counted anyway since Ecklie's promotion."

Grissom turned around not longer able to meet the surprised and more than hurt look in her dark-brown eyes.

"Gris, I don't know what to say. I mean, you just can't do that. You once said to me, that the lab needs me. It may sound pretty familiar to you, but the lab needs you, too. I, uh, we, the team needs you."

Sara tried to give it a shot "Could I convince you to stay if I would send you a plant or something or would you prefer a friend for your pet spider?" She put a hand on his back. Grissom flinched and straightened but turned around to her. She smiled helplessly and looked very vulnerable.

He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked firmly in her eyes. They stood just a few inches apart from each other, feeling the body heat emanating from each other, picking up their scents. Grissom smelled her shampoo and closed his eyes. His olfactory senses would always recall her. Sara just stood and watched him unsettled, also feeling his very presence and his scent of leather and earth.

Grissom looked at her again and sighed "Sara, you have your life back, you seem to have found somebody who cares for you. I'm sorry but I witnessed your, uh, um, interaction. That's fine for me. They also have a good lab in Reno, in case you wanna, uh, pursue a, um, a relationship with this Phil Solder, he seems to be a nice guy. And you still have your career. So move on, get a future. Take your chances and get a life. I don't want to see your life going down south again because of…" He paused and took a deep breath, then continued almost inaudible, "Because of me. It was wrong to hold you back when you wanted to go. It was my fault. I'm so sorry, that I also had a part in screwing up your life."

"Grissom!" Sara shouted. "I cannot believe you. You can't be serious. My life was already screwed up long before we met. This had nothing to do with anything you did, you should know that by now. Although you did pretty good to hurt me. But this wasn't your fault. You made it pretty clear that you are not interested in me. I have made the terrible and non excusable mistake to fall in love with you and whatever I'm trying to do, I can't stop it, it just won't go away, Gil. Please don't. Leave. Me." Sara calmed down exhausted, her eyes filled with tears.

He flinched when she probably for the first time ever used his first name and it stroke a chord in him, triggered something inside he have not felt for a very long time. He frowned, was irritated by her outburst and immediately started analysing his feelings upon her confession. '_Rationalize, go quote something sophisticated, Grissom. Something Shakespearish about unreturned love perhaps or_… He watched Sara in her turmoil of emotions with this broken-heart look in her eyes, despairingly waiting for any reaction of him. "The past is never dead. It's not even past." He whispered more to himself than answering Sara when Faulkner crossed his confused mind.

Suddenly beyond thinking, just following his impulse Grissom bent forward and gently kissed her lips. Hesitating first but then encouraged by Sara's surprised but more than willing response he kissed her with a desperate and deep passion he had never known before. His lips wandered down, tasted her, drank her. His hands not longer in control removed her shirt and explored her soft skin. He felt Sara pressing against him, answering his body, a hand in his neck playfully touching his curls, the other started unbuttoning his shirt, striking his chest.

Then he pushed her away, "Sara." He managed to whisper in a rasp voice. "Let's. Not." Sara stood breathless, confused, her heart pounding hard. She shook her head in resignation. "I don't get it, Gris. I don't get you. I always thought I just misinterpret your approach to me, that I was the one who got your messages mixed up. But this, I mean, you kissed me. This was more, this has to be more."

"Listen, Sara." Grissom took a deep breath and started to explain, "When I called you in five years ago, it wasn't just out of pure professional interest. I have to admit that. When I asked you to stay it was also out of my selfishness. I so wanted you, uh, to have you around me. You're a pro, brilliant, smart and an excellent CSI. I don't know what else I was thinking back then. I guess, I always had feelings for you, but I never had a clue how to deal with it. I mean, you're much younger than I am and I always thought that you just have a crush on me. I pretty well understood your hints but I was somehow scared to death. I was frightened of what would happen. Not so much the rumours though, what would happen if this relationship wouldn't work out and you would leave me, dump me for somebody younger, I kept asking myself. I wouldn't know how to deal with the consequences. So I played it safe and built up this wall between the two of us. But despite everything which happened in the meantime, you're still here, we are still working together and we managed somehow to become friends again. But, um, I feel so much more than friendship and affection, Sara." Grissom paused and gathered himself. With a silent plea in his eyes he touched her cheek. "I love you deeply. With all my heart. If you could bear with me I'm going to make this right. I mean if you could consider, uh, being with a weird guy who is pretty much fifteen years older than you and never had anything similar to a relationship besides one with bugs in his past life."

"You know I like bugs too." Sara answered in a defiant voice but looked serious in his eyes. "Gil, you know what I'm feeling for you. I have waited since, well forever, to hear this words from you. That was pretty hard for you, wasn't it? Now, what are we going to do with it, with me, with the job in Vegas? Do you want me to leave too, go with you? I would do that."

"Sara, we have waited so long for this to happen, let's, um, let's take it slow and close our investigation before we jump into something out of control. I mean I am pretty much out of control right know anyway." He added slightly ambiguous. "I mean, emotionally."

Sara gave him a big smile and nodded in agreement. "Gris, then let's have a break now and get reat. What would you at least think of sharing the bed, you know, without the, I, uh, I mean I really want to sleep with you, but you're right that we need to prioritize right know, let it be the case then."

"Sara, first of all, I would really prefer that you would call me Gil. I like the way you say it. It makes me feel that I have done something right here, finally. I am not sure though if I can manage to sleep when you are so close to me." He started teasing her.

They had to admit that both were too exhausted and tired from the events of the day and their out coming, so they did not even bother to undress. They just sank down on the bed in silence, kissed once more, but with holding back their passion it felt like a final good night kiss. And comforted by Grissom's arms, listening to his strong and steady heartbeat Sara fell asleep in no time.

Grissom stroke her hair and sighed "Oh Sara, what are you doing to me? What are you going to do to me if I would let you?" Finally he also found some uneasy sleep.


	13. Crashed

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

Chapter Twelve – Crashed 

Sheriff Brooks stood dumbfounded when he peered through the open back office door where he found Grissom and his younger female co-worker still in bed, together, asleep. Grissom's arms were wrapped around her in a protective gesture, she cuddling against his chest. Silently he closed the door. _It was about ten in the morning, they must have been pretty exhausted. From what? _He wondered. _Anyway none of my business, but I wonder what his wife would say to this. _Brooks shook his head.

Shirley Vincent still hadn't arrived yet and Brooks was already musing if she had just played a role and was on the run by now. She would have about half a day head start. I better get state police to run a search on her. He started to make some loud noises when calling his colleagues from NSP, raising his voice so that his guests in the back would have the chance to wake up and settle themselves.

When Grissom woke up first, startled by in the front office noises. He felt quite rested. "Honey, wake up." He gently touched Sara's shoulder. Sara opened her eyes and gave him a soft glance. "Hurry up, Sheriff's already arrived. We don't want him to think to much about this, huh?"

"Morn, Gil" she mumbled and rubbed her eyes. _My god, she looks so cute. I hope that I will never wake up again without her by my side. It does feel so right._ He thought. "Go, go! Wake up, dress up, gear up! We have to work!" Grissom managed to say in a playfully demanding tone.

Twenty minutes later they sat together with the Sheriff sipping on their coffees. More than one time Brooks' eyes wandered back and forth between them, but he would bite his tongue before anything would slip out about his earlier findings.

"We need to search Shirley's car, as soon as she arrives, Sheriff." Grissom said. "We need a judge to sign a warrant."

"Judge Wheeler lives hundred fifty miles up north. Normally we have no need for warrants here. My authority has been enough. So this may take some time." Brooks opened his desk drawer. "But just in case you really would need one, Doctor, I've got some here. Just fill in the blanks." He grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

"You keep plain signed warrants in your office?" Grissom asked upset. "If a jury would get intelligence of this kind of procedure, a case can get busted, you know!"

"Well, it's like with you guys", Brooks meaningful raised an eyebrow, "As long as nobody knows, nobody cares, right?" he smirked.

"This would be none of your business, Sheriff! But ok then, let's do it your way." Grissom sighed.

Two hours later Nevada State Police called back to notify an accident. They had found a car just twenty miles away from Jackpot. "Fatal high speeding" Brooks reported to Grissom and Sara. "Burned rubber indicates that the driver was trying to avoid a deer or another obstacle on the road, driver lost control, car hit a ditch and overturned several times. The female driver had not been buckled up. She was tossed out of the car and probably died when going through the windshield. Positive ID on Shirley Vincent. They are towing the vehicle in so that we can have a look at it anyway."

When the car arrived at the gas station, Grissom asked Cooperman for support to break into it. "Accidental vehicle, evidence as such, no warrant necessary." He explained more to himself. Cooperman shrugged, he didn't care anyway. They opened the trunk and found some yellow rain boots covered with dried mud. "Sara, go swab it and compare it to the dirt we have found on the crime scene. I'm convinced that we get a match." Grissom was not even merely surprised when he also found a nine mm weapon in the glove compartment. The gun had been fired and not cleaned afterwards. He taped it for finger prints and would later match it to Shirley's.

Sara did as being told and returned with the result a few minutes later. "Positive! Mineral findings place her at the crime scene, Gil. But we will never be able to exactly reconstruct what had happened and why."

"Three people are dead. Some of them ended as victims, some of them as suspects. Whatever happened, Sara, is irrelevant now. They all have been culprits and victims long before that and finally it has just been nature itself that made them pay their debts. What's remarkable in this case is the fact that the landslide occurred on the exact time of the crime and more surprising instead of burying the bodies they were uplifted by the debris flow and ended up as milestones apparent on the surface. And let's not forget Sheriff Brooks following his gut feeling." He gave Brooks an appreciated nod. "Case closed." Brooks answered.

Later, after they had stored their kits and baggage in the trunk of the Denali, Grissom and Sara met Brooks in the Diner for a last time, where he had just ordered a pie from Gloria.

"Well, Sheriff. It had been a pleasure to work with you again." Grissom shook Brooks' hand firmly. "And this time my car wasn't damaged and nothing was stolen, as far as I can see that." He smiled.

"Well, something _had_ been stolen." Brooks smirked with a meaningful glance to Sara. "Be sure that you get it back in time." Grissom had no expression on his face but retorted. "You rather mind you own business, Brooks, and get your pie issues sorted out. I tell you what, in my case, it's more that I might have found something." He blinked and left with Sara on his arm. Brooks stood dumbfounded again and hastened to give himself over the hot fresh apple pie which Gloria handed him with a meaningful smile.


	14. Remedial Actions

**For Disclaimer see Default Chapter**

**Chapter Thirteen – Remedial Action**

On their way back to Vegas Grissom and Sara didn' talk much. But this time it felt right, they felt comfortable, calm and serene. The akwardness or their ususal silent moments were gone completely. From time to time Grissom side glanced at her and she answered with that Sara smile and this special look of her dark brown eyes.

_I still don't have a clue what to do about that, but I'll try to figure it out_. _I promise,_ _Sara._ He remembered how the Debbie Marlin case one year ago affected him personally as the victim beared an eerie resemblance to Sara. Dr Lurie had killed her, because Debbie moved on without him. Grissom mused what would happen if a relationship with Sara wouldn't work out. _At least I have put 'Sara' and 'relationship' in context, making progress here, _Grissom smirked. _And I'm not Dr Lurie_, he reminded himself, although he was left with the unpleasant remainder of comprehension for Lurie's deed.

Nevertheless he had been a single for the greater part of his life, not used to have people around, close to him or even living with him. Neither did he know if he actually could get used to having somebody. _And not to forget the age difference,_ he sighed, _what besides their job could they probably have in common_, _what do I even know about that girl? No, not a girl, she's all woman._ _Do I even deserve to be loved like this?_ Grissom wondered. _What does she see in me?_

He must have said that last thought aloud, because Sara answered in a soft tone. "Time will tell, Gris, uh, Gil. I will have to get used to your name though." She smiled. "Let's find out. At first we should think about how to handle 'this' when we are back at the lab. I mean, if you could decide to stay. We are still the number two lab in the country. You told me that. So, if not for the career, stay for the challenge. And because of me." Sara added.

"Sounds familiar", Grissom nodded. "This is exactly what I told Sophia, uh, I mean without the 'because of me part' of course", he added quickly when he saw Sara frowning. "She turned down this opportunity, didn't even think about it. But you're right, I'm not making the same mistake here, I'm going to stay, at leat for a while, you satisfied?"

"Yeah, Gil. At least, in that respect I am. That's a start." Sara answered in such a seducing tone, that he his heart missed the beat. At the same time her hand gently queezed his leg and moved upwards. In such a way distracted he simply overesteered the Tahoe and almost lost control. He pulled over and stopped the car, took a deep breath and looked at her.

"Hey, you are not going to kill us, are you Gil. You will not get off that lightly." Sara softly patted his cheek and kissed him firmly and very promising.

Under her kiss he whispered "No, I would never do anything again to hurt you, Sara." Then he simply gave up and they lost themselves in their emotions.

Catherine had made some important phone calls. Although he didn't like to involve Sam Braun in her plan, but she needed him to get a reservation for the presisent's suite at the Tangiers. Sam didn't ask for the reason or as a matter of fact for the payment, he just instructed one of his staff members to hand her the key card once she arrived.

She ordered an extraordinary seafood dinner to be served at the suite, as she knew that Ecklie would like it. Then Catherine went home for a dress-to-kill. When she got herself prepared she called him on his cell phone.

Ecklie just started discussing with his wife over flowers and fertilizer, he had to buy for their garden when his cell phone rang. Somehow relieved about the interuption he stopped her talking by raising a hand "Wait, business." he explained and closed the door behind him. . "Hey, Conrad!" Catherine said. "Oh, uh, hello, Willows. What's the matter? You have the lab under control, do you?"

"Yes, Conrad. Everything is cool. That's not the reason I'm calling you. I really didn't have the opportunity to thank you for the promotion, you know. I was wondering if you want to have dinner with me tonight. At the Tangiers? How about seafood? Let's celebrate. I owe you." Cath added in a promising tone.

"Uh, yes. Of course. I, I'm flattered." Ecklie cleared his throat, blushed although nobody was watching him. He rubbed his face and felt sweat on his upper lip. _Oh, my._ he thought, _that's even better than my wildest fantasy_ _. The seduction of Catherine Willows. _How many times had he dreamt of doing her in versatile variations. "See you at eight." He managed to answer.

He went to take a shower and changed into one of his brand new made-to-measure suits. "I'm on a case, high-profile, my attendance is needed. I'll have to go." Elusively he kissed his wife on her cheek and left without another word. In his mind he was already thinking about different scenarios involving a certain staff member.

Catherine looked in the mirror and nodded satisfied with the result. For this special occation she dressed up, rather sexed up in a red 'something', or should she say 'nothing', because it was definitely more showing more than hiding_. Ecklie will so like this,_ she smirked remembering him staring in her neckline every how so often. She knew the game.

When Ecklie arrived he was led to the president's suite which made him feel a bit akward. Then Catherine opened the door and he stood stunned, gasping for breath, overwhelmed by her appearance. "Uh, Cath. You, uh, look great." Cath took his hand and invited him in. He looked around and nodded in appreciation. The table had been nicely decorated and a seafood buffet was waiting for them.

While they were eating Catherine seemed to enjoy his conversation. He tried his best to please her and to control his desire. "Catherine," Ecklie sighed, "I'm really impressed, you know how to show your gratitude. So what's this all about?"

Catherine moved around the table and began to play with his so badly reciding hair and whispered in his ear "Let's find out, Conrad." She took both of his hands and led him to the couch. His hands started to reach out and embrace her, but she stopped his movement.

"You listen first." Catherine said in a soft tone, knowing that he was expecting everything else than what she would do and say right now. She was sitting very close to him which made him sweat. He could feel the heat.

Suddenly she straightened. With cold eyes and icy voice she began "Conrad. We have to talk." Her change in behavior left him confused and startled. He opened his mouth but she shut him up.

"I ask you to re-install Grissom in his old position. He should be graveyard shift supervisor. Not me. I can work with him and under his purview. That won't be a factor, in fact has never has been for me. Also I'm going to stay with the nightshift, namely as a team supervisor. You will not interfere with the team's constellation, that would be Gil's and probably my responsibility. If not, Conrad, please take me serious, myself and also the team will resign completely and you will have to replace all of us." Catherine watched him carefully with her arms crossed.

Ecklie replied in anger "What the heck, Willows? Who do you think you are? "He scoffed. "You wanted a promotion, you got it, you're going to pay for it. Now you want to turn back the clock? What is it all about? Afraid of Grissom? Or got people in the way? They will never follow you, right? I cannot believe that you think that everybody will leave."

"I do." Catherine answered simply. When Grissom remains demoted, I'm going to quit. And as a matter of fact so will Brown, Stokes, Sanders and even Brass. And I'm not even sure that Gil is going to stay. And with him gone, I wouldn't expect Sidle to hang around. If this is what you want go ahead." She ended upset.

"Cath, I don't believe you."

"Than you have to believe us," a door opened and there stood Brass and the others. "Are you sure, Conrad, that you want to have it like this? We go all the way if it is necessary." Warrick, Greg and Nick nodded when Jim Brass gave it to Ecklie.

"You know what?" Ecklie shouted upset. "I'm going to report you all. That's not only insubordinate, that's blackmail."

"I have to agree to that, Conrad." Brass said. "But think about our fellow colleagues from human resource department. They will be going to start asking questions about why a whole team left together. I'm not sure that this will put you in good perspective here. Bad, if somebody finds out that it's all your fault. You think, that you are going to stay in your position, if this is going to happen? I don't think so. But that's just me." Brass smirked.

Conrad Ecklie slowly nodded. Defeated he answered. "Well, you won. This time. So it be. Catherine you make sure that nothing of, hm, this intermezzo leaves this room. I'll take care for the paperwork and you keep it low profile. Grissom's going to be back."

Ecklie slammed the door and left the team looking at each other. After a few seconds silence they started to cheer out loud.

"Alright, guys. Back to work. Shift's already started. Let's roll!" Catherine and Jim reminded the rest of them.

When Grissom and Sara got to the lab later that evening everything was quiet. Everybody seemed busy. Sara went into the locker room and found Warrick and Nick joking. "Hey guys, what's up. What can be funny in these times?"

"Hi, Sar! How was your trip? You, uh, you are, hm, can I dare to say? You are glowing." Nick smiled. "No, I'm not." She answered briskly. "Well, I have the feeling that somebody came out of the closet on something, so to say." Warrick answered instead.

"Oh, hi, Sara." Greg greeted "You look…uh. Haven't seen that for a while. You look actually happy. Has it something to to with…?" He teased.

"Shut up, Greg. Guys, stop it. Will you please?" She asked and raised her hands.

"Break room, all, now!" Catherine waved at them.

They gathered in the break room and stood in awkward silence. Brass joined them and they waited for Cath to speak up all business.

Grissom entered the room. "Hi, all. Jim. "He nodded. "There you are. Cath , I was looking for you. We have to talk. We need to talk."

"Yes, BOSS!" Catherine said simply. Grissom raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth but stood dumbfounded. Sara immediately got it and smiled brightly. He looked at Nicky, Greg, Warrick and Jim who were smiling at him too.

Catherine took his arm and pulled him out of the room. Grissom looked back, smiled benignly and shook his head. "Missed me that much, _dear_, huh? You have to tell me everything."

"So have you, _Honey_." Catherine prompted and led him into HIS office.

FIN


End file.
